Source: KIPO
Date: 2010. 4. 19

The Heads of the world’s five largest intellectual property offices (IP5), Ms. Alison Brimelow, President of the EPO, Mr. Tetsuhiro Hosono, Commissioner of the JPO, Dr. Jung-Sik Koh, Commissioner of the KIPO, Mr. David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO and Mr. Lipu Tian, Commissioner of the SIPO, met at the third Meeting of IP5 Heads of Office in Guilin, China, on 15 and 16 April 2010. Mr. Lipu Tian chaired the meeting and Dr. Francis Gurry, Director General of the WIPO was present at the meeting as observer.

The Heads of the five offices reconfirmed the IP5 vision established at the 2008 Jeju meeting:
The elimination of unnecessary duplication of work among the offices, enhancement of patent examination efficiency and quality, and guarantee of the stability of patent right.

The Heads underlined the importance of work sharing and agreed that the ten foundation projects were crucial in building a work- sharing environment, and agreed on the way forward. They expressed their willingness to explore appropriate ways to speed up the IP5 process, taking full consideration of the available resources.

The Heads stressed the importance that *timeliness  plays in work-sharing, and agreed to find ways to make improvements. 

The Heads agreed to improve the functioning of the PCT to promote it as a vehicle for efficient work-sharing. They also recognized the opportunity for the PPH to play an important role in work-sharing, including in the context of strengthening the PCT.
The Heads agreed on the importance of XML in the IP5 Foundation Projects and underlined the need for user involvement.

The Heads expressed their satisfaction on the success of the first IP5 Examiners Workshop in 2009 and their support for the continuation of IP5 Examiners Workshop. The EPO will host the second IP5 Examiners Workshop on 2-9 October 2010 in Munich. 
They reiterated the importance of transparency in the IP5 process and agreed to actively communicate on the IP5 progress to the stakeholders. 

The Heads of the five offices agreed to meet in Japan in the first half of 2011 to assess the IP5 progress.

Further information on the IP5 can be found at www.fiveipoffices.org.

* Timeliness means the timely availability of results from an office of first filing to an office of subsequent filing.